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• What is PII ? Your introduction to personally identifiable information

  15 janvier 2020, par Joselyn Khor — Analytics Tips, Privacy, Security
  Most websites you visit collect information about you via tools like Google Analytics and Matomo – sometimes collecting personally identifiable information (PII).

  When it comes to PII, people are becoming more concerned about data privacy. Identifiable information can be used for illegal purposes like identity theft and fraud. 

  So how can you protect yourself as an innocent internet browser ? In the case of website owners – how do you protect users and your company from falling prey to privacy breaches ?

  

  As one of the most trusted analytics companies, we feel our readers would benefit from being as informed as possible about data privacy issues and PII. Learn what it means, and what you can do to keep yours or others’ information safe.

  Table of Contents

  What does PII stand for ?

  PII acronym

  PII is an acronym for personally identifiable information.

  PII definition

  Personally identifiable information (PII) is a term used predominantly in the United States.

  The appendix of OMB M-10-23 (Guidance for Agency Use of Third-Party Website and Applications) gives this definition for PII :

  “The term ‘personally identifiable information’ refers to information which can be used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, such as their name, social security number, biometric records, etc. alone, or when combined with other personal or identifying information which is linked or linkable to a specific individual, such as date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, etc.”

  What can be considered personally identifiable information (PII) ? Some PII examples :

  • Full name/usernames
  • Home address/mailing address
  • Email address
  • Credit card numbers
  • Date of birth
  • Phone numbers
  • Login details

  • Precise locations
  • Account numbers
  • Passwords
  • Security codes (including biometric records)
  • Personal identification numbers
  • Driver license number
  • Get a more comprehensive list here

  What’s non-PII ?

  Anonymous information, or information that can’t be traced back to an individual, can be considered non-PII.

  Who is affected by the exploitation of PII ?

  Anyone can be affected by the exploitation of personal data, where you have identity theft, account fraud and account takeovers. When websites resort to illegally selling or sharing your data and compromising your privacy, the fear is falling victim to such fraudulent activity. 

  PII can also be an issue when employees have access to the database and the data is not encrypted. For example, anyone working in a bank can access your accounts ; anyone working at Facebook may be able to read your messages. This shows how privacy breaches can easily happen when employees have access to PII.

  Website owner’s responsibility for data privacy (PII and analytics)

  To respect your website visitor’s privacy, best practice is to avoid collecting PII whenever possible. If you work in an industry which requires people to disclose personal information (e.g. healthcare, security industries, public sector), then you must ensure this data is collected and handled securely. 

  

  The US National Institute of Standards and Technology states : “The likelihood of harm caused by a breach involving PII is greatly reduced if an organisation minimises the amount of PII it uses, collects, and stores. For example, an organisation should only request PII in a new form if the PII is absolutely necessary.” 

  How you’re held accountable remains up to the privacy laws of the country you’re doing business in. Make sure you are fully aware of the privacy and data protection laws that relate specifically to you. 

  To reduce the risk of privacy breaches, try collecting as little PII as you can ; purging it as soon as you can ; and making sure your IT security is updated and protected against security threats. 

  If you’re using data collection tools like web analytics, data may be tracked through features like User ID, custom variables, and custom dimensions. Sometimes they are also harder to identify when they are present, for example, in page URLs, page titles, or referrers URLs. So make sure you’re optimising your web analytics tools’ settings to ensure you’re asking your users for consent and respecting users’ privacy.

  If you’re using a GDPR compliant tool like Matomo, learn how you can stop processing such personal data

  PII, GDPR and businesses in the US/EU

  Because PII is broad, you may run into confusion when considering PII and GDPR (which applies in the EU). The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides more safeguards for user privacy.

  GDPR grants people in the EU more rights concerning their “personal data” (more on PII vs personal data below). In the EU the GDPR restricts the collection and processing of personal data. The repercussions are severe penalties and fines for privacy infringements. Businesses are required to handle this personal data carefully. You can be fined up to 4% of their yearly revenue for data breaches or non-compliance. 

  

  Although there isn’t an overarching data protection law in the US, there are hundreds of laws on both the federal and state levels to protect the personal data of US residents. US Congress has also enacted industry-specific statutes related to data privacy, and the state of California passed the California Consumer Privacy Act. 

  To be on the safe side, if you are using analytics, follow matters relating to “personal data” in the GDPR. It’s all-encompassing when it comes to protecting user privacy. GDPR rules still apply whenever an EU citizen visits any non EU site (that processes personal data).

  Personally identifiable information (PII) vs personal data

  PII and “personal data” aren’t used interchangeably. All personal data can be PII, but not all PII can be defined as personal data.

  The definition of “personal data” according to the GDPR :

  

  This means “personal data” encompasses a greater number of identifiers which include the online sphere. Examples include : IP addresses and URL names. As well as seemingly “innocent” data like height, job position, company etc. 

  What’s considered personal data depends on the context. If a piece of information can be combined with others to establish someone’s identity then that can be considered personal data. 

  Under GDPR, when processing personal data, you need explicit consent. You need to ensure you’re compliant according to GDPR definitions of “personal data” not just what’s considered “PII”.

  How Matomo deals with PII and personal data

  Although Matomo Analytics is a web analytics software that tracks user activity on your website, we take privacy and PII very seriously – on both our Cloud and On-Premise offerings. 

  If you’re using Matomo and would like to know how you can be fully GDPR compliant and protect user privacy, read more :
  

  • Learn how to not process any personally identifiable information – Anonymise IP addresses, user IDs, and order IDs
  • Matomo protects user privacy by talking the talk and walking the walk
  • Stay ahead of the GDPR with a privacy-respecting analytics platform
  • 11 ways Matomo helps you protect your visitor’s privacy

  Disclaimer

  We are not lawyers and don’t claim to be. The information provided here is to help give an introduction to issues you may encounter when dealing with PII. We encourage every business and website to take data privacy seriously and discuss these issues with your lawyer if you have any concerns. 

  Additional resources :

  • https://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/identity-theft-statistics.html#identity-theft-trends-in-2019
  • https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection_en
  • https://iclg.com/practice-areas/data-protection-laws-and-regulations/usa
  • https://www.csoonline.com/article/3215864/how-to-protect-personally-identifiable-information-pii-under-gdpr.html
  • https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/key-definitions/what-is-personal-data/

• How to keep personally identifiable information safe

  23 janvier 2020, par Joselyn Khor
  The protection of personally identifiable information (PII) is important both for individuals, whose privacy may be compromised, and for businesses that may have their reputation ruined or be liable if PII is wrongly accessed, used, or shared.

  Curious about what PII is ? Here’s your introduction to personally identifiable information.

  Due to hacking, data leaks or data thievery, PII acquired can be combined with other pieces of information to form a more complete picture of you. On an individual level, this puts you at risk of identity theft, credit card theft or other harm caused by the fraudulent use of your personal information.

  On a business level, for companies who breach data privacy laws – like Cambridge Analytica’s harvesting of millions of FB profiles – the action leads to an erosion of trust. It can also impact your financial position as heavy fines can be imposed for the illegal use and processing of personally identifiable information.

  So what can you do to ensure PII compliance ?

  On an individual level :

  1. Don’t give your data away so easily. Although long, it’s worthwhile to read through privacy policies to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into.
  2. Don’t just click ‘agree’ when faced with consent screens, as consent screens are majorly flawed. Users mostly always opt in without reading and without being properly informed what they opt in to.
  3. Did you know you’re most likely being tracked from website to website ? For example, Google can identify you across visits and websites. One of the things you can do is to disable third party cookies by default. Businesses can also use privacy friendly analytics which halt such tracking. 
  4. Use strong passwords.
  5. Be wary of public wifi – hackers can easily access your PII or sensitive data. Use a VPN (virtual private network), which lets you create a secure connection to a server of your choosing. This allows you to browse the internet in a safe manner.

  A PII compliance checklist for businesses/organisations :

  1. Identify where all PII exists and is stored – review and make sure this is in a safe environment.
  2. Identify laws that apply to you (GDPR, California privacy law, HIPAA) and follow your legal obligations.
  3. Create operational safeguards – policies and procedures for handling PII at an organisation level ; and building awareness to focus on the protection of PII.
  4. Encrypt databases and repositories where such info is kept.
  5. Create privacy-specific safeguards in the way your organisation collects, maintains, uses, and disseminates data so you protect the confidentiality of the data.
  6. Minimise the use, collection, and retention of PII – only collect and keep PII if it’s necessary for you to perform your legal business function.
  7. Conduct privacy impact assessments (PIA) to find and prevent privacy risks (identify what and why it’s to be collected ; how the information will be secured etc.).
  8. De-identify within the scope of your data collection and analytics tools.
  9. Anonymise data.
  10. Keep your privacy policy updated.
  11. Pseudonymisation.
  12. A more comprehensive guide for businesses can be found here : https://iapp.org/media/pdf/knowledge_center/NIST_Protecting_PII.pdf

  Unsure of what information could be considered PII ? Check out this list of examples.

  Additional resources :

  • https://www.umassmed.edu/it/security/compliance/what-is-pii/
  • http://www.osec.doc.gov/opog/privacy/PII_BII.html

• Your guide to cookies, web analytics, and GDPR compliance

  25 février 2020, par Joselyn Khor — Analytics Tips, Privacy, Security
  It’s been almost two years since the GDPR came into effect and turned the online world on its head. Confusion around cookies/cookie consent/cookie compliance remains till today. So we’d like to take this chance to talk more about the supposed “big bad” of the latest century. 

  Online cookies seem to have a bad reputation, but are they as bad as they seem ?

  To start, what are cookies on the internet ?

  An internet cookie a.k.a. an HTTP cookie, is a small piece of data sent from websites that is stored on your computer or mobile when you visit that site.

  Are all cookies bad ?

  No. Cookies themselves are usually harmless as they can’t infect computers with malware. 

  They can also be helpful for both websites who use them and individuals visiting those websites. For example, when online shopping, cookies on ecommerce sites keep track of what you’re shopping for. If you didn’t have that tracking, your cart would be empty every time you moved away from that site.

  For businesses/websites, cookies can be used for authentication (logins) and tracking website user experience. For example, tracking multiple visits to the same site in order to provide better experiences to customers visiting their website.

  

  The not-so-sweet types of cookies :

  Cookies that contain personal data

  Another example of a bad cookie is when cookies contain personal data directly in the cookie itself. For example, when websites store demographics or your name in a cookie ; or when a website stores survey results in a cookie. Use of cookies in these ways is considered bad practice nowadays.

  Third-party cookies
  

  They can be used by websites to learn about your visit and activity across multiple websites. Cookies can enter harmful territory when employed for “big brother” types of tracking i.e. when they’re used to build a virtual fingerprint of individuals after their activity is tracked from website to website. For example most advertising networks create third party cookies in your browser when you view an ad, which lets these advertisers track users across these websites and let companies buy more targeted ads.

  Why does Matomo use cookies ?

  

  For accurate reporting of new and returning visitors. Matomo uses cookies to store some information about visitors between visits. We also use cookies to remember if someone gave consent to tracking, or opted out of tracking. 

  Types of cookies Matomo uses :

  • Matomo by default uses first-party cookies, set on the domain of your site.
  • Cookies created by Matomo start with : _pk_ref, _pk_cvar, _pk_id, _pk_ses. See a list of all Matomo cookies : https://matomo.org/faq/general/faq_146/

  Cookie-less tracking - disable cookies and ensure cookie compliance :

  It’s possible to disable tracking cookies in Matomo by adding a line on the javascript code. When cookies are disabled, Matomo data will become slightly less accurate. Also, when cookies are disabled, there may still be a few cookies created in specific cases.

  If you disable cookies, Matomo tries to detect unique visitors by a fingerprint based on a few browser attributes : operating system, browser, browser plugins, IP address and browser language.

  By disabling tracking cookies, you may also use Matomo without needing to display a cookie consent screen. You can also keep tracking when they reject cookie consent by keeping cookies disabled.

  Cookies and the GDPR

  In some countries and according to the GDPR, websites need to provide a way for users to opt-out of all tracking, in particular tracking cookies.

  The GDPR regulates the use of cookies when they compromise an individual’s privacy. When cookies can identify an individual, it is considered personal data.

  

  Cookie compliance and the GDPR

  To be GDPR compliant you must :

  • Receive user consent before using any cookies (except strictly necessary cookies). Read more on cookies that are “clearly exempt from consent”.
  • Provide accurate and specific information about the data each cookie tracks and its purpose in plain language before consent is received.
  • Document and store consent received from users.
  • Allow users to access your service even if they refuse to allow the use of certain cookies
  • Make it as easy for users to withdraw their consent as it was for them to give their consent in the first place.

  Source : https://gdpr.eu/cookies/

  When does GDPR require cookie consent ?

  The purpose of the GDPR is to give individuals control over their personal data. As such this regulation has provisions and requirements which regulate the processing of personal data to protect the privacy of individuals. 

  This means in order to use cookies, you will sometimes need explicit consent from those individuals.

  When does GDPR not require cookie consent ?

  Then there are many cookies that generally do NOT require consent (Source : https://wikis.ec.europa.eu/display/WEBGUIDE/04.+Cookies). 

  These are :

  • user input cookies, for the duration of a session
  • authentication cookies, for the duration of a session
  • user-centric security cookies, used to detect authentication abuses and linked to the functionality explicitly requested by the user, for a limited persistent duration
  • multimedia content player session cookies, such as flash player cookies, for the duration of a session
  • load balancing session cookies and other technical cookies, for the duration of session
  • user interface customisation cookies, for a browser session or a few hours, when additional information in a prominent location is provided (e.g. “uses cookies” written next to the customisation feature)

  Tracking cookies and consent vs legitimate interest

  

  User consent is not always required :

  We understand that whenever you collect and process personal data, you need – almost always – to ask for their consent. However, there are instances where you have to process data under “legitimate interests”. The GDPR states that processing of personal data is lawful “if processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests”. This means if you have “legitimate interests” you can avoid asking for consent for collecting and processing personal information. Learn more : https://cookieinformation.com/resources/blog/what-is-legitimate-interest-under-the-gdpr 

  A lawful basis for processing personal data (proceeding with caution) :

  We’ve also written about having a lawful basis for processing personal data under GDPR with Matomo. The caveat here is you need to have a strong argument for legitimate interests. If you are processing personal data which may represent a risk to the final user, then getting consent is, for us, still the right lawful basis. If you are not sure, at the time of writing ICO is providing a tool in order to help you make this decision.

  How is Matomo Analytics GDPR compliant ?

  Matomo can be configured to automatically anonymise data so you don’t process any personal data. This allows you to completely avoid GDPR. If you decide to process personal data, Matomo provides you with 12 steps to easily comply with the GDPR guidelines.

  New developments on cookies and the GDPR

  In the early days of the GDPR, a spate of cookie management platforms (CMPs) popped up to help websites and people comply with GDPR rules around cookies.

  These have become problematic in recent years. Europe’s highest court ruled pre-checked box for cookie boxes does not give enough consent. 

  As well as that, new research suggests most cookie consent pop-ups in the EU fall short of GDPR. A new study called, ‘Dark Patterns after the GDPR’ from MIT, UCL and Aarhus University found that a vast majority of websites aren’t following GDPR rules around cookies. The study found most cookie consent pop-ups in the EU to be undermining the GDPR by finding sneaky ways to convince website visitors to click ‘accept’.

  Disclaimer

  We are not lawyers and don’t claim to be. The information provided here is to help give an introduction to issues you may encounter when dealing cookies. We encourage every business and website to take data privacy seriously and discuss these issues with your lawyer if you have any concerns. 

  Additional resources :

  • How do the cookie rules relate to the GDPR ? 
  • Cookies, the GDPR, and the ePrivacy Directive